World Briefing | Europe: Germany: More Crisis For Merkel's Coalition

Published: November 2, 2005

Chancellor-designate Angela Merkel faced a deepening political mire after Edmund Stoiber, a leading conservative ally tapped to be economy minister, announced that he was quitting her coalition cabinet before it even took office. His move came a day after Franz M?fering, the intended deputy chancellor and a crucial figure in talks to form a governing coalition, quit his post as leader of the left-leaning Social Democratic Party over an internal power struggle. His resignation prompted Mr. Stoiber to say that given the changed situation he would remain in his current post of Bavarian governor rather than join the cabinet. A lawmaker with the Christian Social Union, Michael Glos, was appointed to take Mr. Stoiber's intended place.